The VAR debate: A modern day necessity? Or a killjoy to the once beautiful game?

After a hectic opening weekend of Premier League action including a valiant Norwich City display on Merseyside and a quintessentially old school Manchester United romping, there’s only one thought that dominates my mind this Sunday evening: football is worse off with VAR.

As we know, it was at the London Stadium where the farcical nature of this unedifying modern phenomenon became most visible. On three regrettable occasions it intervened, checking each goal or incident to ensure every millimetre, angle or dimension was perfect, and the laws of the game were assiduously upheld.

And it’s a joke. It doesn’t matter if it means every decision is right, it doesn’t matter if it achieves this abstract sense of footballing justice. On the most basic, human level possible, it’s killing the beautiful game.

Fans can no longer celebrate each goal – that moment of pure, unadulterated ecstasy – with the same jubilation or fervour. There is no longer that natural sense of ebb and flow to a game, an idiosyncrasy of the sport that has been callously ripped away. Fans in the stadium no longer possess total clarity over what is unfolding in front of their eyes.

Instead, the advent of VAR represents the triumph of science over logic, an unnecessary intervention brought in solely to appease those who so willingly berated referees in the first place.

And it will have a tangible impact on Norwich City. It’s only a matter of time until it denies us the joy of an unerring Teemu Pukki finish as his metatarsal is offside; only a matter of time until it deprives us of points that will be critical to our survival prospects. VAR is killing football, and there’s nothing we can do about it.

Granted, it didn’t intervene – conspicuously, anyway – at Anfield on Friday night. But this will be an anomaly, a rare occasion where we’re actually left leaving the ground discussing the football rather than the intricacies determined by a diligently programmed computer.

Even the most perfunctory glance at social media will reveal how it’s changing the narrative. Just look at Manchester City on Saturday lunchtime, a footballing masterclass and an exhibition in finishing by the brilliant Raheem Sterling but one overshadowed by VAR’s interventions.

The football has become a sideshow. It’s now all about the outcomes revealed to us on a TV screen.

It may have become more transparent for those in the stadium – bar at Old Trafford and Anfield, where big screens are absent – but that doesn’t detract from the notion that fans are often left oblivious to what the system is determining; oblivious to the potential repercussions until a robotic voice finally delivers a verdict.

Those who invest their hard-earned money in following their team deserve to know what is happening. The whole thing is a farce.

What is so distasteful about VAR for me is its flagrant eradication of football’s memorable moments. Think of those Manchester City fans back in April whose joy was extinguished by the marginal position of Sergio Aguero’s toe, or those Paris Saint-Germain fans who were denied a place in the Champions League quarter-finals owing to Presnel Kimbembe’s ostensible handball.

VAR has ruthlessly killed off those moments of ecstasy, transforming them into oblivion and collective despair.

And this is empirically true. Celebrations at the London Stadium for Raheem Sterling’s second goal were more subdued owing to VAR’s previous denial of Gabriel Jesus’ goal, while those arriving at Leicester, Newcastle and Manchester today would have invariably done so wary of VAR’s unwavering threat.

Goals are now not so much a moment of joy as they are a temporary phenomenon, an event chalked off for the most laughably pedantic reasons.

How can VAR determine the precise point at which a pass is played? How can VAR be completely certain that a player is offside, even with its allegedly groundbreaking 3-D lines? Even if it was scientifically proven it could, the point remains is that it has ruined football in its purest form and irrevocably changed the game we all know and love.

Part of the matchday experience is debating the decisions come to by the officials. Mistakes are only human and are an inherent part of life. For me, the idea that their total eradication at the expense of fan understanding, enjoyment and happiness is preposterous.

Call me a traditionalist, rooted in the past and incapable of moving on with the times. It won’t alter the fact that VAR remains a bane to our beautiful game, destroying its flow, inhibiting experiences and indelibly making it so acutely worse off.

Agree with emotional sentiment but think of the perceived bias against smaller unfashionable clubs over the years. Would Ruel Fox’s penalty have been the only one awarded at Old Trafford for nearly a decade? Are assistants more likely to give marginal off sides against the away team at Anfield or White Hart Lane?
We have complained for years, partly through the our own myopic bias that referees have been against us. VAR decisions will hopefully even the ground a little for Norwich.

I’m all for VAR as previously all tight decisions usually went in the big teams favour.
It would have stopped the Costa offside goal last time we were in the premiership.
As far as I’m concerned it levels the playing field for teams like City.
The big downside is that we’ll probably be ten minutes later getting home.

One day someone will realise in our own flawed way Humans are better than Technology. Sadly it’ll be too late, they won’t be able to tweet the information in time as everyone else stares myopically into their “smart” phones while the world blows up.

Still, someone will take some cracking pictures on 5555G mighty multi mega pixels. And we’ll filter it of course; #onemustlookonesbestfordoomsday

VAR is emblematic of the current human mix of expectation and lethargy. You on the other hand are a breath of fresh air my boy.

Mistakes are part of life, injustice is character building. Long live the man/woman with the flag!

Will, when Aguero and co slice through our defence with a slick one-touch passing move in a few weeks time, finished of by scraping Sterling’s marginally offside little finger, I don’t suppose you’ll be sending messages of sympathy to the Man City fans who have spent a couple of minutes celebrating prematurely when VAR lets us off the hook.

I said to some friends a while ago now that I dreaded the introduction of VAR as it would inevitably kill football.
It gives me no pleasure to think I may be proved correct. I have no issue with matters of fact, such as goal line technology but to dissect every goal to the last millimeter is ridiculous, even it may ultimately help us get more decisions.
Football is inherently a simple game but the lawmakers are sucking all the spontaneity out of it, the passion will disappear as we wait for the big screen to decree whether we may celebrate or not. And even if that’s “only” 30 seconds later, it’s already too late, the moment has gone.
Maybe it will settle down and be for the better, I just can see it.

I mostly agree with all the sentiments in your article and I am still open minded on VAR.

On Sunday Kammy said that Spur’s first goal should have been reviewed do to blovking Villa defenders getting to the original cross as it had an adverse inpact on the game, does he want to turn the game into a complete no physical contact sport, the main question is how far will VAR review decisions.

United got a penalty but Chelsea said the foul prior to that should have been given not the penalty so in some ways after match discussion will still go on, and the commentator on saturday said after the 1″ offside decision shoulders don’t score goals, to me offside should me a torso not an Inch of the shoulder when the rest of the body isn’t offside so were do you draw a line, what is the camera angle to draw that line.

Many goals could be given and possibly will be as offside if a head is infront of a defender, it was simpler when the goalie and one defender had to be in front of the attacking team, ditch the offside rule completely then no arguement and lots more goals.

The Wolves disallowed goal was a farce ball to hand bounced to his team mate who scored nothing wrong his hand was by his chest no deliberate act to gain an advantage.

Now I understand why we were allowed to be promoted and Leeds blew it last campaign, can you imagine the mayhem at Elland Road when VAR ruled out a last minute winner. No VAR in the EFL.

I was in a Co-op last week at about 10.40pm when a couple decided to help themselves to goodies and walked past the self scan and out the door. Raising the alarm with the apparent solitary employee she said there’s nothing she could do and that there security goes at 10.30pm but she would inform the manager and it may be on CCTV but Police are not able to deal with it. What a joke, now people just walk in and take what they want and the manager can check the replay in the morning.

My point is technology is being used as a solution to everything and we no longer accept responsibility. If VAR is allowed to continue crowd numbers will fall and interest in the game will diminish. It is a passionate game and like all things passionate, if you have to wait for the safe option,the moment passes!!

I think to the day in March of ’85. Lovely old Neil Midgely, taking to the Wembley pitch to referee us V Sunderland, laughing and joking with the players, and generally having a great old time. I may be old fashioned, but officials used to enjoy their jobs, and it showed. The robots of today have nothing on them. Football, as important as it is, should not remove fun for the sake of getting every decision right. I’d much rather have a few human errors in a game than this stupid VAR system.

Watching MOTD again beause of course I am. The first goal made by an overlapping Byram making space for an advancing Tettey, that's right Tettey to take the ball wide, cross to win the corner. Hard to pick an MoM but Tettey was immense after so little football #ncfc

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